Page 53 of Handsome Devil
“Yes,” I said, mostly so he’d get his ass in gear, then headed back to my office.
Within two minutes, Chaz, Angela and Marco, everyone save Lizzie, had piled through my door. I went to shut it behind them. By now, I’d chatted with them all by email about our new employer situation, but I hadn’t seen them face-to-face while we’d all tiptoed around the office today.
“Did Lizzie tell you guys?” I asked them.
“Yes,” Angela said.
“No,” Marco said. “What?”
“Lizzie’s been appointed our temporary manager,” I informed them. “I’m sure she’s planning to let you all know. It was pretty sudden and she’s probably trying to deal.”
“Really?” Chaz said. “Lizzie? Over you?”
I gave him aNot now and not herelook and forged on. “Mr. Davenport says his team is on their way to our office. I have no idea when they’ll arrive but it sounds like some of them are coming today. An assistant of his, and I don’t know who else. He told me he’s here to fix some issues. I don’t know what those issues are. Hopefully he’ll tell us more at the staff meeting tonight. He’s also going to be hiring us a new manager. So if you happen to know anyone who’d be great, it wouldn’t hurt to make a recommendation.”
“Uh… how about you?” Chaz said.
“I second that,” Angela agreed.
“Thanks. I appreciate it, guys. I really do. But he’s made it pretty clear that’s not happening.”
“Why?” Angela asked.
“Yeah, that’s horse shit,” Marco said. “Hiring someone from outside the agency and overlooking you? You’ve been here longer than anyone, even Janelle.”
“Look, guys…” I really didn’t know what to tell them without terrifying them a little. But I had to be honest. “This man is… dangerous. Or at least he could be if we’re not careful. He has a reputation for inspecting companies and completely ripping them apart. Also,” I said, bracing myself with a deep breath, “there’s a sex tape. Involving Mr. Davenport. And I don’t want to hear one word about it,” I added quickly, cutting off Chaz as he tried to open his mouth. “We are going to be squeaky clean here. No gossiping, no coming in late, no leaving early. Everyone is at their desks with their noses down. Agreed? The quicker we pass this inspection, the quicker we all go back to life as it was.”
“A sex tape?” Marco’s eyebrow quirked. “Like, he’s in one?”
“Apparently. But that’s got nothing to do with us or his job here.”
They absorbed that, and Angela asked, “And what happened with Janelle? Why did he fire her?”
“I don’t know.”
“I wonder if there’s anything that could be done,” Chaz mused. “To get him to go easy on us…” He looked me up and down, like he was sizing up a pastry at the bakery counter. “I mean, you’re the only one he’s requested alone time with since he got here…”
“Don’t even think about it.” I shot down whatever theory he was already working on with a look. In Chaz’s mind, there was always some conspiracy. “Let’s just get back to work before he comes back. This is a great agency and we all do a fantastic job, right? Let’s keep doing it.”
I herded everyone out, but Chaz shut the door, closing us in alone.
“What if we ruin him?” he said, with the gleam in his eye of a man who watched way too much reality TV. “Is there any way we can ruin him?”
“We are not ruining anybody.” Not like I hadn’t thought about it. But there was no way. If a sex tape scandal couldn’t do it, we had no chance. “Just do your damn job.”
“But,” Chaz protested, “what if we could throw shade on him? You know, like, say he came on to me in the workplace…”
“Chaz. Seriously. You can’t throw shade on the devil.”
I opened the door.
“Hmm.” Chaz gave me one of his snooty smiles and then sped-walked back to his office. Not good. I did not like that look in his eyes.
I whisper-shouted after him, “And don’t bother trying to find the tape! It’s already been nuked off the web!”
“That just means you looked for it!” he sang back happily. “But you didn’t look hard enough!” Then he disappeared into his office.
Hours later, I returned to the agency from a brief afternoon meeting with a potential new client. Dane was still out, and Chaz was closed up in his office.
